The media and the popularisation of specialised languages: The case of legal language

This paper aims at exploring new methodologies that might render students' approach to specialized discourse original and stimulating and is based on two third year courses I held at the University of Parma in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 for undergraduates reading modern languages. Despite the fact that specialised languages have long been perceived as the realm of a restricted group of people, very often we come across them in our daily lives (for instance, in the standing details we find in advertising as well as the contracts we stipulate with various companies). Furthermore, we have recently witnessed the release of an incredible number of television and cinematographic products whose aim is to translate intersemiotically some of the main specialized languages, thereby popularizing them and making the general audience partially aware of their mechanisms. By exploiting audio-visual material which translates intersemiotically the language used in various kinds of texts (articles, codes etc.), or which tries to reproduce the language spoken by specialists, the course provided a useful testing ground for the research paths outlined here as part of a new approach to ELP teaching and learning. By referring to documentaries, videos reproducing actual trials, as well as television series whose focus is, precisely, the language of the law, this paper illustrates some of the activities which were used during the course and which have proven useful to students approaching the study of English for Specific Purposes for the first time.